The Ties That Bind
by tornpetalsxx
Summary: “CJ, CJ? Is there anything behind the rumors about Josh Lyman and Donna Moss?”  AU Season Four. Josh and Donna learn to cope with the fallout that is a press story.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One - Now That Everybody Knows**

_AN: H'okay so this is my first ever fan fiction so excuse how rusty it is. This is set in a slightly AU season…I'm going with late three early four because I'll be making passing reference to Amy but it's not like she's actually going to be dating Josh. Oh and Sam's still around because I love him. And he's dating Mallory O'Brien because I loved them together, and the first time I wrote this I had just seen Twenty Hours In America Part Two again. _

_I'm going to shut up now and let you read!_

I never screwed my assistant. You pick up the paper tomorrow though, and on every front page in this damn town there is going to be a picture of us, a stupid caption and a story about how sex is the way to make it in politics if you work for the Deputy Chief of Staff. It'll be national news too, this isn't my ego getting the better of me, this story - my story, our story- will be in every paper in the country. Although to be fair it made it onto national television first. Did I forget to mention that I made it onto CNN too? Not to mention three regional shows maybe even more, I don't know. This isn't really about me though, sex sells especially if it has anything to do with politics.

They brought it to CJ first- they aren't stupid, "CJ, CJ? Is there anything behind the rumors about Josh Lyman and Donna Moss?"

CJ played it cool but anyone who knew her well could see that she was fuming, "Define 'rumor' would you Patrick."

"Is it true that they're sleeping together?"

"Where did you get such an idea?" She's not going to make a 'President's Secret Plan to Fight Inflation' type of mistake. After the Hatian incident she has been even more careful around the press.

"I have here a quote from an unnamed White House source that Josh Lyman has, and I quote, 'Been screwing his assistant since the beginning.' The quote goes on to make allegations that Donna Moss was hired because of this."

"Joshua Lyman and Donatella Moss have an extremely professional relationship Patrick, and believe me when I say this, Donna is one of the most competent assistants we have- Yes Joe?"

"I also have this quote, what do you make of the long hours that Donna and Josh spend together? They rarely go home before 11 and when they do Josh often takes Donna home."

"Have you been stalking them?" CJ asks with a smile, I know she's cursing me for being so stupid, "On a more serious note Josh has a very important job, one that requires him to work till late hours. And that's something we all know about."

We're all watching it now, originally only Toby was there but the second the quote was brought up he paged Sam, and Sam paged me and as I came rushing out Leo, who had just been making a trip down to the bullpen, joined me. Out of our group only Donna and the President aren't watching this.

"CJ what about him driving her home?"

"What about it? It's late at night and Donna's car is in the habit of breaking down." She wants to leave it there, we can all see it. Toby's face is unreadable, Sam is trying very hard to look everywhere but at me. And Leo? Leo looks as if he could kill me, right here, right now.

"CJ when the President announced his campaign for re-election Donna came to Manchester with the senior staff, am I correct?"

"You are."

"Did Toby Ziegler's assistant come with you? Or Sam Seabourn's? What about Leo McGarry's?"

"All the assistants attended."

"Donna Moss was also informed of the President's MS before the general announcement was made to the White House Staff and gave evidence in front of Ways and Means. Why was that CJ?"

"Donna Moss is a trusted member of the staff, she had to testify as she complied all the inter-departmental files for the hearings…" CJ really doesn't want to have to work through this, "And in case you were wondering she was told of the President's MS by Toby Ziegler, not Josh Lyman." She sees Leo and Toby signalling to her through the glass and sighs, "That's all for now guys, I'll be back in a few hours and hopefully you'll have some actual stories for me to comment on."

Something tells me I need to make myself scarce, so I quickly make my way back to my office. But first let me explain something: I never screwed my assistant. Screwing is something you do when you're drunk or you don't really like the person. I never screwed my assistant, I had sex with Donna. I had sex with the woman that I love and have loved ever since she stood there, in a white shirt and her hair in those little clippy things women seem to love, trying to persuade me that I'd hired her. I didn't sleep with her when she turned up and demanded a job, I slept with her five years later, after four years of banter and flirtation. I slept with her after four years of pining; a Mandy, an election, an inauguration, a shooting, an MS scandal, an announcement that the President was seeking a second term, a Cliff, half some Amy, a re-election, a Jack, the third worst Christmas of my life and an inauguration ball later. I never screwed her

"Josh?" There she is, the woman I love more than anything, the most beautiful woman I have ever met. She looks worried.

"What?" I ask, although I know what she's about to say.

"Leo wants to see you…us in the senior staff meeting in half an hour."

"Did you see it?"

"See what?" She's biting her lip, even though she doesn't know, you can see that she has a good idea of what's gone on.

"They…someone left a quote…about us." I really don't want to have to say it, "They accused us of having an affair, they said that was why I hired you."

I didn't expect her to react the way she does, "Well we know that's not true, and we knew that somewhere along the line someone was going to say it. I guess we have to go and see Leo and explain ourselves. Did you say anything to them?" she looks at me, she can read my looks by now, "Oh Joshua." she sighs, "You ran away didn't you?"

Why do I feel the need to 'Yes ma'am' her? I have the good grace to hang my head briefly, "I'm sorry, I panicked. I didn't know what to say."

"It had to happen sometime." She says and sinks onto my sofa. "I guess I should resign."

"Why? We haven't done anything wrong." I say, perfectly truthfully, "I wasn't sleeping with you when I hired you, I haven't given you pay rises or promotions because we are in a relationship. We've behaved ourselves professionally at work and, much to my chagrin, we have never so much as kissed in the White House."

She's smiling now. It's a small smile, but it means I'm forgiven. "How do you know I didn't sleep with you because I wanted a promotion?" she asks in true Donna fashion.

"Because." I say as I move over to the sofa with the world's goofiest grin and kneel in front of her, "You. Love. Me."

"Lord help me I do." Donna says and we laugh together. We sit like this for a while before she goes back to her desk. Twenty minutes later she comes back into my office.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." She looks nervous, like she looked before she had to go and testify before Ways and Means or like I assume she looked then. I still feel bad that I felt too angry with her to see her off.

"Well we might as well go down fighting." I stand up and walk over to her, slipping my hand into hers. "I love you and whatever happens now, nothing will change that."

She smiles at me, "I love you too." Then we set off to Leo's office, hand in hand.

------------

We walk slowly, normally Josh walks much faster than this, so do I. We're not nervous though, the feeling goes far deeper than that. We're dreading this meeting, at best we're going to have to put up with a few articles on us and our 'affair', at worst we could both get fired. It's not an affair though, it's a relationship. I don't want this belittled, this means so much to me and so much to Josh.

Margaret smiles at us as we walk into the office, it's an oblivious smile, a completely Margaret smile. "Leo said Donna would be joining Senior Staff today." She says, apparently completely unaware of anything even though we're holding hands in front of her. Maybe we should stop doing that before we go into Leo's office.

Josh knocks on Leo's door, it's shut. Leo's door is never shut before a Senior Staff meeting, something tells me that the meeting started as soon as the press conference finished. Josh knocks again when no one answers, he still hasn't let go of my hand.

"Josh." I say it quietly but it catches his attention.

"It'll be okay Donna. You know it will…whatever happens you know that I-" then he realizes that Margaret is sitting there and while she doesn't appear to be listening this is Margaret we're talking about, "Well…you know what I mean."

"Maybe it would be better if we stopped doing this."

"Donna!" he looks aghast and I realize what he thought I meant.

"No not that." I hasten to explain, I nod towards my hands, "You know I couldn't stop that."

He smiles and lets my hand drop and just at that moment Leo opens his door. "In. Now."

Well this is going to be my first real Senior Staff meeting, I never thought it would happen like this.

**End Chapter One**


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Thank you for all the kind reviews! Hope you enjoy this chapter

**Chapter Two - As We Relive Our Lives**

I'd be lying if I said that I have never anticipated that kind of question. The one about Josh and Donna I mean. In truth I've been waiting for it pretty much every day that there is no decent story going on. After all that anticipation you'd have thought I could have come up with a better answer.

See the thing was, up until that moment I had no idea that all those hypothetical situations we'd been throwing around about the two of them might have actually been true. It was a nice little joke, a small 'maybe one day they'll realise' thing. Regular visitors to the West Wing used to enquire after them in the way you enquire after the children of a friend you haven't seen in a while, "What have Josh and Donna got up to?" or "Has he managed to ask her yet?" that kind of thing, but it was always half in jest.

I mean we knew, we all did. We probably worked it out before they did, it seems a bit callous to say this now but at first we sort of dismissed it as Josh needing the anti-Mandy. And Donna was certainly that. See this was way back when Josh and Mandy were still going out, during the first campaign, and we all knew how much they argued. Fought. So Josh would come into work in a foul mood and there would be his smiling, blonde assistant who refused to get him coffee, who got on better with his parents than Josh did himself, who always asked him why he thought his policy was the best. You wouldn't have thought that this would make Josh smile, but it did. An early morning banter session with Donna made him positively glow with energy.

Over the years people tried to explain Donna's attraction to Josh as one sided- a school girl crush on the man who had rescued her from a future as a Wisconsin housewife- in truth he needed her as much as she needed him, she rescued him too. It was Donna who was there when the thing with Mandy imploded, it was Donna who helped pick up the pieces, it was Donna who was there to listen to all of Josh's ranting when Mandy came to work for the President, it was Donna who was there when Josh got shot, it was Donna who made sure Josh followed The Rules, it was Donna who was there for Josh during the MS scandal, it was Donna who worked the twenty hour days with Josh during the second campaign, it was Donna who waited patiently when Amy mucked Josh's life up, it was Donna who - yet again - picked up the pieces. How she kept going through all of that is beyond me; she is, quite literally, the only person in the world who could put up with all of that and still love him. Not to mention put up with all of Josh's 'adorable' personality traits.

Anyway for about a year, hell since Josh and Mandy broke up, I've had three press statements ready. I didn't want to get caught out by anything so I had every situation covered, if Josh and Donna had asked me to keep it private the answer was simple: 'You know it isn't policy to comment on the personal lives of staff.' If the President had said that the press had to know (we're all more than a little careful about when to tell the press these days) then the statement was slightly less simple, "I'm glad you asked, Joshua Lyman informed me earlier this week that he and Donna Moss are moving in together. He and Donna would like to say how happy they are and thank you for all your support." The third statement was never really a serious one, but it was the one I had most fun composing, "And finally, after three years of avoiding the subject and a year of facing up to it I'd like to announce that the winner of the Josh/Donna pool is Katy." (Don't ask me why it was Katy, I just always thought she'd picked the date.)

So why couldn't I come up with any one of those statements? It's simple really, I had no idea that anything was going on. In every single one of my hypothesises I was one step ahead of the press; it seems that some of the people really don't understand that if anything happens I am their first phone call, not the one they make after the press have already written the story. I expected Josh to tell me, not just because of what I do but also because I'm his friend, and I'm Donna's friend too. You can't spend as much time together as we all do without forming some kind of bond.

As soon as I left the briefing room I found the rest of the Senior Staff team waiting.

"My Office. Now." Leo never wastes words.

It's only then that I notice that the person who got us into the mess is conspicuously absent., "Where's Josh?" I ask Sam in an undertone.

"He ran." Toby says bluntly, just as quietly.

Sam doesn't seem to be paying any attention, he follows us as we walk through to Leo's office but his mind is obviously somewhere else. "Sam-" I begin but Leo cuts me off.

"Not here C.J." Without Josh here it looks like Leo's looking for someone else to chastise.

We reach Leo's outer office in silence. "Margaret tell Josh and Donna to come to a Senior Staff meeting in half an hour."

Margaret nods, "I'll have to send a note down to them."

"Why can't you just phone them or email them?" Leo asks crossly.

"Today is my Amish day Leo, I'm not touching any electrical appliances."

"Margaret I want you to email Donna now."

"But It's my Amish day." She sees the look on his face, "Right email."

We walk into Leo's office and take our customary positions. We all seem to be on auto-pilot, I wonder if the boys are doing what I am - wondering when and where, trying to put together all their little moments and finding the solution.

"So who knew." Leo is direct.

"I didn't and I don't think anything's going on.." Toby shrugs, "It's just a rumor."

We look at Toby shocked. "Toby why do you think that?" Leo asks.

"Because only in a world of make believe would Josh date Donna. They don't think of each other like that, they're more like brother and sister."

"Toby sometimes you are very stupid for such an intelligent man." I say, "Of course they think of each other like that."

Toby looks a little confused, if I had a camera and this was any other time I'd want to take a photo of his face right now just to prove to him later that he doesn't always work it out.

"But Josh has been seeing someone else for weeks. Months even."

"Donna, he's been seeing Donna Toby. Think about it, what has he ever told you about this girlfriend?"

"Nothing. That's how it should be, why would I want to know about his private life." Toby raises his eyebrows.

"How do you know that he's dating someone then?"

"Because he looks happy, he leaves before midnight from time to time, he goes out for lunch occasionally, he eats healthily." Then something begins to click, you can literally see the cogs turning, "But he's never spoken to Donna about this woman…he normally lords it over her. Why wouldn't he do that? He'd want to drink from the keg of glory…unless she was dating someone as well, but then he'd do it even more, unless it was him." None of us even pretend to follow his train of thought.

"How do you know that?" I ask, for someone who doesn't seem interested in Josh's private life Toby seems to know a lot.

"Ginger told me the other day." Toby shrugs.

"Can we get back to the subject at hand?" Leo asks exasperated, "CJ what about you?"

"If I'd known I might have been able to come up with something a bit better when I was asked about it don't you think?"

"Yes, I do. Sam?"

Sam doesn't say anything for a while.

"Just remember that unless you answer me I'll find some way to detain you tonight so that you can't take Mal out."

Sam still doesn't say anything, he can't betray his friend and besides he knows that if he calls Mal she'll come down and sit in with him.

"Sam?" Leo demands.

"Sam you do understand that we're going to take your silence as an agreement anyway. We don't need you to tell us that he's screwing her, we can tell from the look on your face. " Toby points out.

"He's not screwing her." Sam says quietly.

"What do you mean he isn't screwing her?" Leo looks confused.

"He loves her. Screwing is something you do with someone you don't care about. Josh and Donna aren't having some little affair, they're in an relationship. Whatever your feelings are on the subject you should treat that with some sort of respect." Sam looks defiant, in that look we can see how much he cares about Josh and Donna, and how much he knows they care about each other. Love each other.

"Whether he loves her or is just screwing her we can't handle this right now." Toby says practically, "We've had Leo's scandal, Sam's scandal, the MS scandal. We don't need this."

"Exactly we've had their scandals, and mine. Did we loose Leo? Did we loose the President? Did you fire me? No. Why is it different for Josh and Donna?"

"Because Sam. Caesar's wife, like the rest of his family, must be above suspicion."

"But none of us above that. We're in politics, we're in the White House. This administration is never above suspicion."

"We are this time Sam. Look at our approval rating, it's rising every day. We hit the low sixties the week before last, we can't afford to trade that in."

Leo hasn't spoke, neither have I. We're watching this interchange like a tennis match. See Toby has the upper hand right now but if Sam keeps at it then he might be able to take it from him.

"We wouldn't have the approval rating without Josh and Donna. Josh is the unofficial Chief-Whip, you know that. We couldn't have passed the Education Bill without him, or the Health Care bill, or the Tax Bill. And that's this year alone. Only CJ has as much effect on the rating as Josh does."

"I wasn't suggesting we fire Josh." Toby says slowly.

Leo wants to speak, he wants to tell Toby that it isn't his position to suggest that anyway, but to do so would lessen Sam's chances of winning this.

"Who were you suggesting we fire then?" Sam is going to make him say it.

"Donna." Toby has the good grace to look guilty.

"First of all Toby do you realise how that would look? We'd be giving permission for every boss in the country who is having an affair with someone who worked for him to do exactly the same thing. We'd be lessening the rights of workers everywhere. I think that would have more of an effect on the ratings than the story will. It wouldn't save us any face. Women's rights groups would be on us so fast we wouldn't be able to formulate a defense, Equal Rights groups, Secretarial Unions and groups. Secondly you do realise that without Donna Josh might just walk out. If he didn't the standard of his work would take a dip for a while at least, don't you remember when she left us on the campaign? Josh didn't come to half the internal meetings, he didn't leave the office till three and was always back by six. He works himself to a frenzy when she isn't there to stop him. He'd burn out too soon. We can't afford for that to happen. Thirdly, I know you might not care but firing Donna might spell the end for them as a couple. Josh would feel guilty, he'd feel that it was her fault that she was without a job. He'd withdraw himself from her, work even longer hours. Donna can put up with a lot, she has put up with a lot, but when Josh gets like that you need to be around him all the time to stop him slipping. And she wouldn't be allowed to do that because she would have to find another job."

"Sam it's just not practical."

"It's just not practical?" Sam echoes with a look of disbelief, "Why isn't it practical?"

"It's going to look bad."

"Because firing Donna wouldn't look at all bad."

"But C.J. just told the press there was nothing going on, it either looks like she's lying to them or that she doesn't know what's going on."

"She didn't know what's going on." Sam points out, "And the quote was wrong; they aren't screwing each other and they haven't been doing it since the beginning."

"That's just a technicality of language." Toby's lost.

"Toby what do you do for a living?" Sam asks pleasantly.

"I work at the White House as the Director of Communications."

"And what do you do?"

Toby doesn't really know where he's going with this, "I present the image of the President to the people, I work with TV stations, I organise appearances, I write speeches…" he trails off at the look on Sam's face.

"You write speeches." Sam repeats, "You know as well as I do what the technicality of language can do. "

Toby grunts, this hasn't been a good day for him not only did he not work it out he just got beaten by Sam. If this was any other day I'd have taken pictures and videos of this just for future reference.

"If I can have control of this meeting back-" Leo says briskly, trying not to smile, "We need to figure out what to do."

"I still say we should ask her to leave." Toby says quietly.

"No." it's Leo that shoots him down this time, "We need Donna, we need Josh and most importantly they didn't do anything worthy of being fired."

"They had an affair, he's her boss."

"I'm aware of that and rest assured they will both get a talking to when the come in. We can't decide to fire them right now."

"Why not?" I ask, I thought Leo was on their side a little.

"We have to ask the President what he thinks, after all they're his staff."

He's got a point there, but we don't want to have to involve the President. We want to keep him out of it so that if someone asks, "what does the president think?" we can say that this is being dealt with by Leo McGarry and that the President has more important things to worry about than the lives of his personal staff. We want to keep him out of it because he might not be rational about it and we need to be rational right now. The President is the brightest man I know but he'll either decide that Josh and Donna are to be left be entirely or he'll over react. Or he just won't care.

"So are we talking to them first or to the President first?" Toby's tone comes close to sulky

"Josh and Donna," Leo replies, "We need to get their story straight before we go talk to the President, we need to hear what they've got to say for themselves."

We sit in silence for a while, Leo is glowering at nobody in particular, Toby is looking around for his rubber ball, Sam is trying not to look at anyone and I'm trying not to think what will happen next. Thankfully the silence is interrupted by a knock on the door. Leo walks over and pulls it open, "In. Now."

We troop in silently, the two of us have been hauled up to face trial by our peers. My peers I guess, Donna would never consider herself on the same level as any of the people in this room. She's perfectly clear that she's the Deputy Deputy to everyone in here, no matter how much I try to persuade her otherwise.

I'm wondering if we should say anything, whether we should stand in a certain place. CJ, Toby and Sam are spread out around the room, they stand where they always do. On instinct I move towards my place but Donna's hand on my arm stops me just in time. That hand earns her a glare from Toby, CJ is studiously ignoring it and Sam has the smallest of smiles on his face. I know what each of them want to do, and for once I'm glad we never can agree on anything right away.

"Before you say anything Leo-" I start but Donna's hand tightens its grip on my arm and I stop short, I'm already regretting saying that. Trust her to stop me before I embarrass myself further.

"What is it Josh?" Leo asks irritably

"I…erm…" I am at a loss for words. I, Joshua Lyman of 760 verbal SAT fame can not begin to think what it was I wanted to say. If I'm honest I'd only planned the 'before you say anything' bit.

"We're sorry we didn't tell you." Donna's voice cuts over mine, I wish it hadn't I don't want her to be on the end of what will be coming out of Leo's mouth in the next few minutes. Damn it Lyman why couldn't you have stepped up to the plate and taken it like a man?

"Sorry?" Toby exclaims, "You're sorry that you didn't tell us. Believe me Donna the fact that you didn't tell us is the least of your issues right now."

"Toby!" C.J. chides him, she glares at him in that way of hers. Boy am I glad it's not me she's glaring at…oh wait she's changing her gaze…look away Lyman…look away…damn she's locked eyes with me. She's glaring at me now.

And amazingly I'm holding her glare, I'm gazing back calmly and its all because of the hand that has slipped into mine. She's done it so surreptitiously that I doubt whether anyone else noticed, not that I'd care if they had, Donna's hand gives me strength - it's a nice little synecdoche because really its knowing that Donna's there that gives me strength. Well whatever it is all I know is that a few months ago CJ's glare would get me to admit state secrets and now I can return her gaze without flinching.

And so it is that for the first time in history I out stare Claudia Jean Cregg.

**End Chapter Two**

AN: Okay so this didn't really go anywhere but it was my CJ ramble. Next chapter I'm going to actually get in some proper J/D moments. Promise.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three - I Just Thought You Ought To Know**

_AN: Sorry this took so long to get up, I was away so I didn't have any interent connection. Also I've slightly edited Chapter One to make the Time Scale fit better. Anyway, thank you for all your reviews and I hope you enjoy. _

To be honest I'm still kicking myself that I didn't work it out. They all did, everyone else managed it and they were probably very amused that I didn't. I'm pretty sure I saw CJ trying not to laugh at me during the meeting. It's just like her to think that this is funny, I suppose she's used to finding something good in everything. Me, well I was once told that I was too sad, but now away from the meeting even I can find something good about Josh and Donna's relationship.

I won't confess that I've ever taken much of an active interest in the personal lives of anyone here, but I've yet to find one person who works here who is oblivious to the Josh and Donna thing. Many of us, including myself, have dismissed it over the years as a school girl crush here and a physiological jealousy due to the fact that Josh hates to come second in anything there (okay, maybe that one was just me) but it's always been a thing, from the very first day she stepped into his office. It wasn't kismet, it wasn't fate (because those things are just stupid people's explanations for why something goes 'right') but it's about as close to perfect as I've ever seen. Well it would have been, it had the potential to be. I suppose it still is, the wait has just made it all the more perfect because they did wait for all that time. Not that they waited chastely, I don't think anyone can wait for they person they love for five years and not have the odd relationship along the way. But they never stuck, that was the important bit. All the Amys, Cliffs, Jacks and Mandys in the world couldn't have stopped these two.

The first time I met Donna she had only been working for the campaign for two hours and we were all getting ready to go to South Carolina. When I tried to walk into Josh's 'office' she stopped me, didn't even look up from the files on her desk but still managed to stop me then and there. I think it was the way she asked for my name, that simple, direct, authoritative way that told me she meant business. It was the same sort of voice that Mrs Landingham used, according to Bonnie she took each of the assistants aside and taught it to them their first lunch time on the job. So I stopped and turned to face the assistant whose name Josh had mention sixteen times during lunch, the same name that I had forgotten each and every time, and there she was. Donna Moss, the ethereal being who managed to persuade Josh to give her the job. Not by wheedling or offering him something in return but by being herself and making him see the campaign as something other than what he thought it was. She always looked so delicate, her skin so light and her hair so blonde, but there was something about her that told you she wouldn't be a push over. The only two people I've ever known her to give in to are Josh and the guy she left the campaign for, other than that there is no one who can beat Donna.

Normally I'm not the type to spend a lot of time appraising anybody and that day was no exception. I will admit that I saw her and thought she was very pretty, very young and most likely had got her job because Josh wanted to sleep with her. It's amazing what retrospect can do to you. Did I expect her to last more than ten minutes? Well maybe, after all she had the voice down, but only if Josh wanted her to stay. More fool me, he never wanted her to leave after the moment she walked in. I wish I could have seen it then, seen what CJ and Sam claim they saw the second they saw them together, that these two were pieces of the same puzzle. I didn't even realise that Josh Lyman was a puzzle at this point, he was just the son of an old friend of Leo's with a pretty impressive CV which included John Hoynes on the list of referees . As for Donna, she was the University drop out with push-over written all over her. To be honest I don't really think that any one saw it back then either, I'm just the only person willing to admit it. After all, you'd have to be pretty blind not to have noticed what went on after that.

"Toby Zeigler...yes, Josh is free to see you now."

"I can see that from here, he's been staring at that computer for the last ten minutes. I didn't need to have you check it."

She just raised her eyebrows at my tone before getting up from her desk and walking over to the office with me, "Mr Zeigler's here to see you."

"You can call him Toby you know Donna." Josh instructed, looking away from his computer just long enough to smile at his new assistant.

I watched bemused as his assistant smiled back and then left the room, "Who's that?" I asked, somewhat tetchy at Josh being the one to correct her about my name.

"Her name is Donna, she's my assistant."

"You've got a paid assistant?"

"Nope, she works here for nothing. Must be the effect I have on women." Josh's ego hadn't been rearing it's head that much in a while, which is what led to my next question.

"Are you sleeping with her?"

I have never seen any one looked so offended, "God no Toby, what do you take me for? She works for me. She's only about twenty four anyway, that's a huge age gap."

"I'm just saying...because it would be bad for the campaign if you were."

"And I'm not, besides Mandy would kill me before the campaign even found out," he checked his watch and then bellowed out into the space outside his office, "DONNA?"

Before I had time to turn around the blonde was back, "Josh, I'm right here, you don't have to yell."

"You come here faster that way." He mumbled, whatever I didn't notice I did see how easy and relaxed their relationship was, they were so comfortable around each other and she'd been here less than a day.

"If you're asking why your three thirty Media hasn't arrived yet it's because he rescheduled for three forty five, which I told you earlier and which was why I allowed Mr Zei- Toby in here."

"Anything else?"

Donna approached the desk flicking through a small pile of post-its, "Your Dad called to remind you he's got an appointment on Thursday. Then you've got a message from the people down in South Carolina, they wanted to confirm your reservation of another single room." She stopped short and then looked down at the ground, "You got me a hotel room?"

"Can't have you sleeping in the car, I need you at your most efficient." Josh avoided looking at me.

I kept my eyes trained on the blushing blonde in front of me, she didn't say thank you but the small smile she gave Josh was probably worth a lot more to him, then she returned to her phone messages, "And Mandy Hamilton called, she said that she'll come pick you up for dinner and she wants to know why Toby Zeigler is phoning her up offering her a job."

"I think I can answer that myself," I finally stepped back into the conversation.

"Okay. Thanks Donna, send in my three forty five when they arrive."

She nodded and left, "You got her a hotel room?" I asked with the tone that has the tendency to make people squirm.

"She didn't have anywhere to sleep and she has no money. The campaign's not paying her so I think the least I can do is cover her living costs whilst we're on the trail."

"Doesn't she have any savings?"

"No, she had some gomer of a boyfriend who took them all off her." He shook his head in disgust, "I don't see why you'd want to scam her she's so-"

I could see where this was heading so I cut him off, "Anyway Josh, I need to hire Mandy."

"Take it to Leo."

"We need a political consultant, a decent one."

"Take it to Leo. Anyway we can't afford Mandy."

"We can't yet...but since we have you as an in into the elusive world of Mandy Hamilton..."

"No. I'm not mixing work and my life, Toby that's not fair." He was one step away from pouting.

"Have I told you how childish you sound when you whine."

"I am not asking my girlfriend to work for us for little or no money."

"Little. She's not some recently scammed twenty four year old, she's worth the money we pay."

"Toby, don't talk about Donna that way." He glared at me.

"Talk to Mandy."

"I will not."

"You will."

"I will not."

"We need her."

"So you talk to her."

"This could go on for hours, let me put it this way: you talk to Mandy and I'll see what Leo can do about providing your assistant with enough money to pay for her own hotel room."

"You don't want this to look bad, this is a win-win for you. I'm only trying to make sure she doesn't die in her car."

"A win-win for the campaign and just so we're clear my interest in your life stops at the same point where it stops being intertwined with the campaign."

"Fine, I'll talk to Mandy but when, and only when, you've spoken to Leo."

I would have argued back but Donna had appeared at the door, "Scott Grant is here to see you Josh."

"Send him in."

She nodded and left.

"Toby how is she going to afford food?"

"Like I said Josh, I don't care until it becomes a problem for the campaign."

Sometimes I think he took me too seriously, but he spoke to Mandy for me, when and only when I had spoken to Leo. I didn't see Donna again until I boarded the trail bus for South Carolina with CJ the next day.

"Who's the pretty blonde sitting next to Josh?" CJ sounded intrigued and she wasn't the only one, half the bus was muttering and throwing glances at the blonde head bent over a pile of notes, they all watched as Josh muttered something to her and waved his hand in the direction of a particular paragraph. She nodded and picked up her pen, her hand moving quickly to take down everything Josh said.

"That's Donna, she's his new assistant." I said as I sank into a seat.

"Well then the office rumor mill was right for once." CJ mused this new addition.

"There's a rumor mill?"

"You're that out of it?" CJ retorted, "How did you know who she was if you didn't hear the gossip?"

"I ran into her yesterday when I went to speak to Josh."

"And?"

"And what?"

"You're useless Toby." CJ shook her head and flicked a glance back at the two heads, one dark and one blonde, "They look very sweet together."

"What they look CJ is focused on their memos which is what we should be doing."

"I'd be focused if I was a young blonde working for Josh Lyman." CJ smirked slightly.

"I see the teenage crush has switched back to Josh this week, had enough of Sam?"

"Spanky? He's too pretty to get bored with." CJ laughed, "Listen to me talk, tell me what you've got on the Education Agenda."

---------------

I'm still reconsidering that first twenty four hours when I realize that Josh hasn't said anything. CJ started glaring at him a good minute ago, normally it only takes twenty three seconds for her glare to have the desired effect. I'm starting to think that Donna's got something to do with it, and I'm not the only one. Leo has switched his gaze from CJ to Josh and he spots it before I do.

"Josh next time I haul your ass in here to talk to you about your relationship with your assistant it would help if you weren't holding hands with her." There is an amused air to Leo's voice but it's very faint and hidden under miles of disdain and anger.

Josh nods but he doesn't let go of Donna's hand. All eyes in the room are on their joined hands now, Donna tries to quietly extract her hand but Josh holds on fast. There's a tiny smile on her face when he refuses to let go, out of the corner of my eye I see CJ soften somewhat. She always was a bit of a sap when it came to these things, she was the one who saw it first after all. After today I'm not sure she's going to let anyone forget that.

"How long have you been lying to us"

"An omission of truth isn't a lie." Josh points out, quite reasonably which only serves to get my hackles up, "None of you asked us...well one person did and when he did we told him the truth."

We all look around at Sam again, he shrugs.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I ask him crossly.

"Because they were going to tell you." He said quietly and nods at Josh.

"Oh how nice of you to decide to let us in."Yes I'm growling, no I don't care that it makes me sound like a grumpy old man. I am a grumpy old man. Well, not so old.

"We were waiting for a reason Toby." Donna says, it's the first time she's spoken since she apologized.

"What reason would that be? The fact that you might get fired? Because that still might happen." I'm bellowing now.

"We were waiting because we didn't think that you should know. We were protecting you and CJ from having to answer awkward questions until we were sure of where this was going...where we were as a couple."

"Because not telling members of the group has never backfired before." I drawl, "Didn't you learn anything from the MS Scandal? I thought that was a valuable life lesson to take away there."

"Oh you did Toby?"A new voice, one that I know so well it makes me cringe when I realize he just heard what I did, "Perhaps you would all be kind enough to tell me why Josh and Donna are holding hands and what the hell is going on here."

------------

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I mean how could it get any worse? We've been 'hauled in here' by Leo for the world's biggest lecture, Toby has been ranting at us and CJ has that look on her face which tells us that her professional and personal opinions are in complete conflict with one another and that she doesn't know which one to go with. Only Sam looks normal, but then Sam didn't find out about this in a press briefing. Anyway, just when it couldn't get any worse it somehow manages to because it seems that the President of the United States has walked into the room at some point in the last few minutes.

That's right, the President of the United States now needs to be told that someone claimed that I was sleeping with Josh. And then the President has to be told that said person was right. This is the President, the man who called up my High School English Teacher after I'd spent all evening trying to persuade Josh that her retirement should be recognized in some official way. The President who never batted an eye lid when I appeared on the campaign, who didn't fire me over the Jack incident and who certainly didn't question why Josh and I arrived at the inaugural ball together that night. He didn't care what was going on between us then, he seems to care now.

"Perhaps you would all be kind enough to tell me why Josh and Donna are holding hands and what the hell is going on here." His voice increases with every word and I can see that whatever chance Josh and I had of a mild reprieve has been pretty much quashed by Toby's last comment. I blush a little and look down at the ground again, trying desperately to think of something I can say in response to that. Then my hero, my knight in his shining armour, steps up to take the hit.

"Donna and I are holding hands because we're...we're in love Mr President sir."

If we weren't in Leo's office surrounded by a host of people who want to kill us I'd kiss him right now. He just told the President he loves me. I mean, this is Josh who, despite his SATs score, seems to find it very difficult to express things concerning me and our relationship. At home, in private, it's fine and he can tell me he loves me and why he loves me all night without stopping, but this is different. This is, after all, one of the most powerful men in the world and one that Josh is in great awe of.

"And is this a recent discovery?" I almost breathe a sigh of relief when the President says this, it's a return to his normal tone of voice and he's less likely to get made at us. I catch his eye and see him smile, yes, the bumbling old professor is back.

"No Sir, it's not Sir. I've been in love with her for five years." That's my man.

"And you Donna?"

This doesn't quire seem the place for the usual, 'I've been in love with him from the moment I set eyes upon him' speech that I would be inclined to give. Instead I smile demurely, "Only three years Mr President."

"Only three?" Josh rounds on me looking a mixture of crestfallen and surprised.

"It's been three years since I realized that's what it was." my eyes glint mischievously, "But I must have fallen for you, oh, two years before that."

Josh relaxes and his face breaks into a grin, displaying those dimples that I love so much. CJ is hiding a smile, very unsubtly I might add, as she pretends to look over the piece of paper in her hand, Sam is looking at Toby in a 'see, I told you so' way and Toby is pretending he doesn't know what Sam means. Leo is looking over at the President, trying hard not to smile while he gauges the reaction that the leader of the Free World will have.

"And when in this five years did you decide to admit these feelings to each other?" The President asks after a while.

"Ten months ago Sir"I say, very quietly. CJ's knuckles go white on the paper she's holding, I don't think she expected that we'd keep it a secret for so long.

"Ten months? That seems to me like it's pretty serious." there's a twinkle in the President's eye.

"It is Sir, very serious." Josh says and I smile at him.

"So did you decide to tell us today because you have decided to make it serious?" The President asks looking at my hand intently as if he expects to see a ring on it.

"No Sir," and this time Josh looks slightly embarrassed, "We didn't tell you, CJ was given a rumor about us in the Press Briefing this morning."

"Was she?" The President asks, "And what were you all going to do about it?"

"We were talking about whether either of them should lose their jobs." Toby says, speaking for the first time since the President walked in.

"I thought we decided that we weren't and that the President was going to decide that." Sam shoots at him.

"That was awfully nice of you all, although I'd say that hiring and firing staff is more Leo's role than mine."

"We don't want them to get fired sir but we thought it might hurt the administration if we didn't so we were planning on briefing you and letting you decide."

"Well," the President pauses and then looks at Josh, "Did you ever act in any way which would compromise your position?"

"No Sir."

"You didn't promote her or tell her confidential information, increase her salary or anything like that?"

"No I did not Sir. I think everyone in here would agree with me that Donna is worth far more than we pay her and is far too bright for the position she is in. If anything I would say that my feelings for Donna have caused me to overlook her potential because I would rather she was working with me than somewhere else."

I love that he says 'with' rather than 'for' and I love that he thinks I'm worth so much. To be honest I haven't taken jobs over the years because I'd far rather be working in a dead end job with Josh for the next four years than one where I'm making too much money and not doing something good without him.

"Well that changes things." The President smiles, "So long as you continue to act in a way that won't harm the administration we will all support you in this. CJ, if the Press ask tell them that I'm happy for these two and that they are both assets to this administration. Well, you work on the wording. What's next?"

"That's it Sir." Leo says and the President nods before returning to his office. "Toby have a press release ready for CJ's next briefing please."

"What do I say when they ask why we didn't tell them before?"

"Say that CJ was checking with Josh and Donna about whether they were ready to go public. She didn't deny that they were sleeping together so they can't complain she was lying to them in the last briefing. Oh and make sure the statement makes it clear that their relationship is separate from work. CJ make sure someone asks a more appropriate question in your next briefing, one you can answer. Phone someone who will handle it well, plant the lead-"

"Leo, I can do this by now." CJ says in a slightly terse manner.

"I know, I just want it done right. Josh, Donna so long as there is nothing I can find to implicate you in anyway in any goings on that would hurt the administration you're free to go. Sam...I guess you can go too. Help Toby with the statement unless you have some other work to do. Okay guys that's it."

We all nod and smile and the others leave. Josh hangs back and naturally I hang back with him, "Thanks Leo." he says quietly

"Don't thank me, I would have fired you if I'd been told to. Thank the President." Leo says and then stops, "I'd call your mother and tell her now, she wouldn't like to hear this from the TV."

"Oh she knows." Josh says quietly.

"She was delighted?" It's more a statement than a question.

"She's always loved Donna. Now she just asks when the wedding is and when we're going to be giving her grandchildren."

"Well when you find answers to either of those questions make sure you inform us." Leo says with a return to his normal, jovial tone.

We both smile and turn to go but before we can leave Leo speaks again, "I told you once to snap out of it." he says, more to his papers than to either of us, "If this is how happy you are together I'm glad you didn't take my advice."

**End Chapter Three**

_AN: Next chapter...look out for the appearance of Sam as narrator._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: My Confession**

I won't claim that I was the one who worked it all out. Well, I'd worked some things out but I'd never done more than work them out as single, isolated facts. Bringing them together wasn't in my capabilities at that time. I'd love to say that Josh trusted me with it long before it came out but it wasn't the sort of secret he could trust people with. Only Donna could know, any one else knowing put them at risk. He did hint at it though, he wanted me to work it out for myself because then he could confide in me. Six months ago he tried to hint it to me so I couldn't work it out for myself. I wasn't paying enough attention but I found out that day anyway.

"Come out to dinner with me and Mal tonight." We were sitting in my office eating salads. Mine had been forced upon me at the insistence of my girlfriend who had pointed out that a high stress job would only lead to a heart attack especially when one was eating the same kind of rubbish one had eaten in college. I had expected Josh to bring in a burger or at least some kind a decent sandwich from the deli but instead he had arrived carrying a similar Perspex case to the one that sat on my desk. I should have recognised the mark of a girlfriend but I'm afraid I didn't.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"But it'll be a couples thing...I'm not a couple. You'll share plates and whisper to each other and I'll sit there with no one to eat my fries. Okay that was my first clue of the conversation, or it would have been if I'd been picking up on them. If Josh got fries Donna somehow managed to eat them, even if she hadn't been at the table when they arrived. It was just one of their things, always had been.

"Bring someone then."

"Oh yeah like that'll happen." he scoffed, "Hi, my name is Josh Lyman would you like to come with me to dinner? One thing, my best friend and his very serious girlfriend will also be there. No pressure."

"Not like that, just bring a friend." I was getting a little fed up with Josh whining, it felt like he hadn't whined for ages and now I was getting the whole load of it. It was at this point that I realised he hadn't been whining to me for a few months now. Not about this kind of thing anyway.

"I don't have any friends, except you and Donna and the others."

"Bring Donna then."

"Okay."

Yeah I should have picked up on that, I mean it was a very swift agreement with no whining about Donna not wanting to go with him or having a boyfriend. And then again came the recognition that I hadn't heard the gomer whine for a while. Not that I made anything of that; I just decided that he had finally got over his assistant, not that he had ever said he was, in the immortal words of Ross Geller, under her.

It had taken me awhile to work out that he had liked her, but not as long as it had taken him to work it out. It started with the casual hints, the way he couldn't go a whole conversation without mentioning her name, and then stuff just built up. The first time I knew, the first time it was more than just a guess and a bit of a romantic wish, was after that night at the polling banks. It wasn't so much that he was asking why I thought Donna was trying to get him to ask Joey out so much as the way he did it. Let me just say this before I go much further, I might be able to write things down but I'm not so good with the whole description of events thing.

Anyway, that was the first real time I knew for sure. There are hundreds of other moments I could name, hundreds of moments when I knew, or wanted to say something to the pair of them or just wanted to shout it from the roof tops, but we're losing track here. Or rather I am. Anyway, Josh went back to work with a look on his face that should have told me everything. We all miss so much when we don't look hard enough.

Mal and I were a little late to the restaurant, over the years I've developed a curious habit of not being able to leave the office until I absolutely have to and since Josh suffers from the same condition I was surprised to see him already there with Donna, sitting at a table a few feet away and talking.

"Sam...you didn't say he asked her out at last." Mal said quietly in my ear. Can I just say that intimate comments like that are one of the best things about being in a relationship. In a public place anyway.

"He's just bringing her along to make it an even four." I dismissed the idea just as I had earlier.

"Then why is he holding her hand?"

I cast Mal a sceptical look but she merely nodded towards the table top. Josh's hand was lightly covering Donna's and you could tell it was just something that happened all the time, there was nothing unusual about it being there to either of them.

"He didn't say a thing." I managed

"Well maybe that's because dating your assistant is a big no no out here." Mal offered, but she was smiling.

"A bit like dating your boss's daughter?"

"Very much like that."

We took a step closer, unwilling to break up the moment but both more than a little curious about what was unfolding before us.

"They're almost 40 minutes late," we heard Josh say quietly, "How about we give them ten minutes more and then we go home and do what I'm sure they're doing right now?" He smirked and Donna matched his smile with one of her own.

"That sounds like a good idea. We haven't just watched a movie together in ages...all we seem to do these days is have sex."

"Donnnnnaa." Josh whined, in that way of his.

"Yes Joshua?"

"I was sorta thinking that maybe we could take some valuable time together to--"

"Have sex again today?" she prompted wickedly.

"I mean, if I was to suggest sex after the movie would you have a problem with that?"

"Since when have I ever been able to say no to the idea of sex with you?" Donna asked.

"You did for four years"

"In my defence you never asked me then."

It was at this point that I felt the need to interrupt, good friends though we may all be there were limits to what I wanted to know about Josh's sex life. In the hopes that I could lull them both into a false sense of security, to persuade them that they hadn't been over heard I offered up the banal phrase "Sorry we're late"

To say they jumped in surprise would be hyperbolic by its very nature but Donna did flinch and I noticed that Josh's fingers tightened slightly on top of hers.

"Sam, Mal." Donna's voice was full of the cheeriness of a guilty party.

"So Josh..." I said in an undertone, having helped Mal into her chair, "You managed to persuade Donna to come okay then?"

He half glared, half smirked at me trying to convey 'not now' without moving his lips. He managed it alright, but I knew I was going to plough on ahead. I'm like that. However, before I could Mal spoke up.

"I hope neither of you take this in the wrong way but it's about time."

"About time?" Josh squeaked.

"Josh it's been painstakingly clear to everyone, and I do mean everyone, that you have liked Donna for a while so I'm glad you bit the bullet and told her."

"Who said he told me first?" Donna's voice contained that hint of amused defiance which we had all come to know so well.

"You let her tell you first?" I asked Josh in surprise. I had never really thought he'd be the one finding it hard to say those things, I always figured that Donna would be too worried about what it would entail that, as the sensible one, that she would hold back and Josh would rush in.

"No." Josh said with an indulgent smile, "In our own dysfunctional way we told each other at the same time."

"And what he means by that," Donna finished, "Is that someone else pointed it out to us both when we were all in a room together."

"Who?" I asked, "I want to meet this person, I want to shake their hand, I want to give them some kind of tribute as the person who finally made you both admit what everyone else has known for so long."

"Somehow I don't think she'd appreciate it." Donna said with a smile.

"Well, you never know," Josh pretended to mull it over, "Amy always liked to hear others praise her."

"The she-devil told you?" Mal asked with as much shock in her voice as I felt, noting Josh's look she shrugged, "My Dad really doesn't like her."

"Not many people do." Donna mused

"I did" Josh's attempt to stand up for his ex-girlfriend was half hearted at best.

"Yes but, as previously discussed, your judgement is rather flawed in those areas." Donna teased him.

"No more so than yours."

"And yet somehow you fell for me and I for you."

"Law of averages, if you fall for enough of the wrong people you're bound to find the right one eventually."

They seemed to have forgotten we were even there, descending into their own world where banter counted as foreplay. Mal was watching with an amused smile on her face, I was still trying to make sense of what I had been told.

"Can we just go over how exactly Amy was the one to tell you guys that you belonged together? I know she's tactless but surely that was signing her own death warrant as far as your relationship with her was concerned?" I asked Josh.

"Well, she did her research first." Donna began, "You have to credit her with that. One night we had some kind of stand off, it wasn't anything major but I said too much and then you could see it made her think. Later that night she just came out and asked me, asked me if I was in love with Josh, and I couldn't say no but I couldn't say yes either so I didn't say anything. She gave me this long lecture about how clichИd it was to fall for your boss, how pathetic it was, and how he loved her not me and that I should grow up, move on and get another job." she smiled slightly, "And I, as ever, took next to none of her advice."

"And then she asked me." Josh took over, "I suppose it must have been a few weeks later but we were at my house and I had to call Donna for something. Something stupid...I can't remember what it was-"

"You'd left your suitcase somewhere and you needed to know where." Donna finished for him.

"That was it, anyway so I called Donna and she knew exactly where it was and then she started giving me a lecture for being such a child and not being able to look after myself properly. So I pointed out I could too look after myself and she just laughed and asked me when I'd last done my own laundry...well, we were just having one of those conversations, and after about an hour she said she had to go to sleep now because she had to be my wake up call in six hours so I let her go and walked back into my room humming and Amy pounced on me."

I pulled a face at this but Josh was quick to correct me, "Metaphorically Sam, she asked me why it took an hour to locate a suitcase and a whole host of other things and I ended up saying that Donna had known exactly where it was straight away and that after that we'd been talking. She told me she'd heard, and that falling for your blonde secretary was as big a cliche as your secretary falling for you." He shook his head disparagingly, "You know for someone who fights for women's rights Amy never really did get the difference between secretary and assistant."

"Did you realise she was talking about Donna being in love with you too?" Mal asked, looking enthralled.

"No." Josh looked a little shamefaced, "I was too busy denying the fact I was in love with Donna."

"So the next day she came into my office at lunch time and Donna was in there going over some stuff with me. I told her I didn't have time for lunch and she said she knew but she hadn't come in for that, she'd come to tell me that it was pointless dating someone who was in love with his assistant."

"And Josh blushed and began stammering that Amy had no right to come in here and accuse him of these things and I-"

"You were blushing just as much as I was and you were concentrating very hard on the files in front of you." Josh continued, "And just as I was beginning to get really very worried that neither Donna or Amy would be speaking to me by the end of the day Amy decided to tell Donna that it was okay now, she could stop pretending to work because she was just as guilty as falling for me as I for her."

"Actually she asked me whether I'd imagined it like this, with Josh frantically denying everything." Donna corrected raising her eyebrows at the sentiment.

"So I said I wasn't denying anything and that Amy had better get out. Amy left, telling me she'd already taken all of her crap out of my apartment and then I turned to Donna and--"

"And?" I asked, just as hooked on this story as my girlfriend was.

"We talked." Donna said matter of factly, "We talked for a long time about everything and decided that we couldn't deal with it now. Then I went back to my desk, determined to find another job, and then," she paused and smiled in a slightly goofy-oh-so-in-love-way, "the intercom on my desk buzzed and Josh's voice came through telling me he didn't know why he was using this thing as it was so complicated but could I please come into his office. So I went in and he was running his hands through his hair all distractedly, he shut the door behind me and told me that there was something he had forgotten to say just now. And he told me he loved me and if I'd meet him outside in ten minutes we could go for lunch."

"Where did you go?" I asked, half wanting to know and half wondering if someone had seen them there.

"We didn't quite make it further than my car." Josh said with a hint of embarrassment and a hint of pride.

"I don't think I needed to know that." I muttered to my plate more that to anyone else.

"Well you asked." Mal pointed out sweetly.

"Remind me to kill you later." I grinned.

"Anyway it wasn't like that." Donna hastened to explain, obviously highly embarrassed, "We just kissed...a lot...and then went back to work."

"When was this?"

"Four months ago."

"You've kept this a secret for four months?" I was shocked and grudgingly impressed, I didn't realise Josh could keep a secret for longer than a minute.

"After the whole four years without telling it wasn't exactly taxing." Donna mused.

"But four months? I wish I'd asked you why Amy dumped you again."

"So you weren't together at the inauguration?" Mal asked, "Just it looked like you were."

"We weren't." Josh clarified, "I mean we would have been but there were other people in the taxi."

"Besides, that would have really hampered Amy's coming to see you the next day." Donna seemed amused in a resigned way.

"Can I help it if I look so good at an inauguration that Amy just wanted me?"

"Josh; if you value your life you will never utter that sentence again. Ever." Donna warned.

"Yes ma'am!" Josh all but saluted. We all laughed, there was just something comical about it.

"So when are you going to tell the press?" I asked, two courses later.

"When they ask." Josh said, his arm draped protectively around Donna's shoulders.

"That has got to be the stupidest plan I ever heard. They'll find it out and then where will the administration be?"

"No they won't, you didn't."

"I'm not a member of the White House Press Corps. You have to tell CJ."

"We will, just not yet."

"She'll kill you if the press find out first" I warned, pointless but true.

"They won't find out." Josh reassured me, and I believed him. More fool me.

Since this is Josh and Donna's story and not mine I don't feel that it's fair for me to be the one to tell you every moment in between the time they told me and the time that the press found out. I will say this though: they were happy; unbelievably so and in the way that I'd wanted to see them happy ever since I put three and six together to make a number that was almost nine.

It wasn't easy for them and they didn't like lying to CJ but every time they plucked up the courage to begin to tell her what was going on something happened. The President's daughter was kidnapped, the President proved the power of the constitution by temporarily removing himself from office, former Presidents died, well this is the White House, these things happen a lot. There was one moment I remember most vividly, however, from the period when Zoey was kidnapped: during the first twenty four hours I went over to Josh's office to talk something over with him and I heard Donna crying in there. I sort of hovered in the doorway, my feeling that this was a private moment being overcome by my more inquisitive side, and saw her lying on the couch with her head in Josh's lap crying her heart out while he stroked her hair and whispered comforts to her, he looked up at one point and, seeing that I was there, gestured for me to come back in a bit. Twenty minutes later I returned and everything was as normal.

"Sorry I couldn't speak to you earlier."

"It's fine, is she okay?"

"She's been better, she was speaking to Charlie and the way he was talking just reminded her of Rosslyn too much. She says that its bad enough that neither of us can ever forget it but when it's brought back to her like that--"he broke off, "She just...she hates realising how close she was to losing me." There was not a hint of Lyman swagger in his voice, just the pain of someone who worries about exactly the same thing.

"But she didn't." I tried to be slightly upbeat about it and Josh nodded and we returned to our work. When you're worried about something as personal as that sometimes work can be the best relief.

I walk back to my office with a song in my heart. Donna and I have been let off, no one wants to kill us, or worse fire us. The sun is shining, birds are singing and I am in the red. This is my day of Jubilee, this more than calls for the finest muffins and bagels in the land. I have drunk from the keg of glory and no one is going to kill my mood.

Donna hurries on ahead, trying to make it seem like we're not together. Old habits die hard, although technically old habits would have us doing a walk and talk round about now. Still, nothing can ruin my day now. I pause in the bullpen momentarily, staring up as the news flashes onto screen, thankful that there is no mention of the story. I stick it out until the end of the news cycle, just in case, before turning and walking into my office. Without focusing on anything I look back behind me and yell "DONNA."

"I'm in the room Josh." her quiet voice says from the sofa. I look over and indeed she is there. With CJ.

"Glad you could make it Joshua." CJ smiles enigmatically at me, "If you'd care to sit, Donna was just running me through the essentials of your relationship so that when I come to breif the press I know what I'm talking about."

I groan, and sink into a chair opposite CJ.

"Okay we've got the first date, the first time you told each other you loved one another, first time you had sex-" CJ stops in mid sentence, most likely because she has heard the high pitched squeak I seem to have made,"Yes Josh?"

"Donna...did you tell her that?" I ask, torn between being mock appalled and flat out appalled.

"No Josh. She guessed a date and I just said yes." Donna shakes her head in exasperation.

"You told her?" I repeat, Donna shrugs, "Traitor."

"Josh, back to the matter at hand please--" CJ begins but I cut her off.

"Since you need to know everything, allow me to tell you." And I do. I talk about things that make CJ writhe in her chair and things that make Donna look angrier by the second. I'd stop but I'm enjoying the shade of pink CJ has turned and I haven't noticed just how pissed Donna is until she gets up and walks out of the room. She never makes a scene, never throws a tantrum, but she can still catch your attention.

"Donna!" I call after her, looking around frantically I leap to my feet, "Have you got enough for now?" I ask CJ hurriedly, forgetting the game I have just been playing.

"More than enough." CJ looks ill, if I wasn't worried that my relationship with Donna is about to end I would take a moment to savour this. As it is I rush out into the bullpen and find Donna behind her desk.

"Donna?"

"Not now Josh."

"Why not now?"

"Because this is work Donna now, home Donna is pissy and if she were to be unleashed here I think everyone in this building would realise that we're not just dating, we're also fighting in public."

"I'm sorry." I grovel

"Home Donna doesn't give a crap."

"I'm sorry." I repeat and I move over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and bending down to whisper into her ear, "I'm sorry, I was pig headed and arrogant and a jerk."

"At least we agree on that."

"I was just being proud of my beautiful, talented and sexy girlfriend. Is that a crime?"

"Couldn't you have been proud without mentioning how often we have sex?"

"Yes. But that way CJ would have been in her comfort zone. Besides, aren't you proud of how many times a week we have sex?"

"I think you mean times a day." Donna replies but she's smiling now.

"Well yes, but this is a public place, there might be children around or something. I was sparing them."

"To make up for not sparing CJ." she suggests.

"I'm sorry." I repeat, hanging my head a little. This is enough for Donna to relent, "Is home Donna unpissy now?" I ask hopefully.

"She might be, it depends on how nice you are when we get home."

"Guys. Work. Information. Not. Needed." CJ has yet to regain her full use of speech but we get the point.

"Right back to work." I agree and then stand up to be faced with a whole hoard of staring eyes, "Guys, there's a country to run. Get to it." I say briskly, walking into my office to go play solitare.

"There's my man." Donna says with a smile more to her computer screen than anyone else, but I hear it and CJ does too by the look on her face, "Going to hide in his office while the rest of us do the work."

Quite right too.

**AN: sorry this took me so long to get up. I have no real excuse other than work load and a lack of muse. Not that that's really good enough, anyway. Hope you enjoyed and thank you for all your kind reviews so far. Next chapter look out for our guest speaker DANNY! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: So Easy**

I know the call is coming. Of course I do, for one thing I happen to be good at my job and for another...well I'm good at my job. Plus I can read CJ like a book, a particularly attractive book, which only serves to make my being good at my job thing all the more effective. So, whilst the rest of the reporters are grumbling about CJ not answering the question about Josh and Donna I'm busy writing my article on it because, unlike the rest of them, I know the call is coming.

CJ doesn't lie when she gets up behind that podium but she does play the distraction game, answering as many parts of the question as she possibly can without answering the incriminating bit. And she's good at it too, the corps might still clamour her name when she leaves the briefing room but more often than not they've got enough information to write their stories. Today that isn't the case but they're still trying to tie together all the Josh Donna links they've seen over the past few years and work out if anything had changed.

They'll be looking for that all day. The only reason I'm not is because I already found the answer. Hence the article which is appearing on my screen, the article which I don't really want to write (by the way) because I don't do personal stories like these, especially not when they're about people I like. Still, my job is my job and if I wasn't doing this then all I'd be doing is waiting for the phone to ring because I know the call is coming. At least, I hope it is because otherwise that would shoot both my 'being good at my job' theory and 'reading CJ like a book' theory in the foot.

See the thing about Josh and Donna is - I KNEW I WAS GOOD AT MY JOB! We'll get back to that part later because right now I have a call to take and the ID is flashing up 'Flamingo' (like I'm ever going to let her live that down).

"This is Danny Concanon, how can I help?"

"You can drop the act Danny, I've been watching you not wait for this call for the last hour."

"Were you? I thought you were in a top secret, hastily called, Senior Staff meeting that just happened to also involve Donna."

"You want me to confirm or deny that?"

"You want me to come into your office so you can ask me what you called me about?"

"Not particularly."

"Well we can get the answers out of the way anyway: yes I am free for dinner tonight and yes I will be bringing over Thai."

"Danny that's not happening."

"You keep saying that but one day it will."

"Yes Danny and when the Republicans take this place back they're going to start a National Health Service. Can we go back to the bit where you play the reporter and I play the Press Secretary-" she stops short, "I'm anticipating any joke you could possibly make right now, and I'm not finding any of them funny."

"You know when you have to repeat those one liners I know I'm having an effect on you."

"Focus Danny," but I heard her laugh before she said that.

"Focused."

"I was wondering if you could repeat-"

But I finish the sentence before she does, "Repeat the question in the next briefing as you didn't answer it before and now you actually have an answer."

"Someone's been playing investigative reporter again, have any of the others worked that out yet?"

"Well yes, mainly because I took the time to point it out to them."

"Have I said how glad I am to have you back?" she asks in the sarcastic tone she has spent the last few years perfecting.

"Well no, but then you did let me kiss you. My theory is I play my cards right today and you might even let it happen again."

There's a pause and then CJ says quickly, "Bring Italian." before putting the phone back down. This is my day of jubilee, to quote one of my favourite speech writers, my day of jubilee and at this rate my editor won't need me to write the 'expose' story about Josh and Donna. They'll be more than enough people from the paper wanting to do it for me and get their name on the front page. My day couldn't actually get any better, there is no way that this day could now become any kind of day that I wouldn't like...then my phone rings and the caller ID shows me something I really don't want to see. Why is it that I always manage to tempt fate this way?

"Danny Conancon is away from his desk, do you think you could save the lecture till later?" I say very quickly into the phone.

"Danny you are dead."

"You know Josh most people like to start off with a friendly hello."

"You know that time when you promised me on your honour and on the life of Gail that you wouldn't spill...it's time Gail found out what dry land is like."

"Leave the fish out of this!" I may or may not have yelped. In my defence when you spend time around Josh you have a tendency to pick up a few of his mannerisms.

"Danny how would you feel about meeting for a coffee to discuss your lack of loyalty?"

"I didn't tell them." I say quietly, calming down enough to realise that Gail's life isn't in any imminent danger.

"So I'm supposed to believe that the only reporter who knew about my relationship with Donna didn't spill it."

"Yes you are."

"Why?"

"Because of that time I promised you that I wouldn't tell anybody." When explaining a point to Joshua Lyman its sometimes advisable to talk really slowly. Just in case.

There's a pause and then a scuffling sound on the other end of the line and Josh whines "Donna...give it back" but evidently she hasn't because the next person to speak is a good deal too female to be Josh.

"Sorry about Josh, he felt the need to protect my honour or something and therefore tried to kill you."

"And they say chivalry is dead."

"It was a nice gesture." Donna says, more to please Josh than anything else I assume; you can practically feel Josh sulking through the phone line even though he's not on it anymore.

"I didn't sell you out Donna."

"I know, you wouldn't do that because it would upset C.J."

"Not to mention you and Josh, I don't really have any desire to write about your relationship any time soon."

"It's hardly a choice subject is it." Donna muses, "Well, sorry again Danny."

"Donna."

"Yes?"

"I think I know who might have told."

"Tell C.J. I don't really care who it was."

"Glad that you don't have to hold hands in darkened corners now?" I ask knowingly.

"Maybe a little. Okay Danny, I'm going to get back to work and Josh would apologise to you but he says that until you find out who it was he's not going to."

"Okay. Bye Donna."

She hangs up with a click and I finally find myself unpestered by people which allows me to return to the subject I raised earlier. The thing about Josh and Donna is -- sorry, I really will finish that thought some time soon but the Caller ID is flashing again. Sighing slightly I pick up the phone, holding it at arms length just in case the person in question is in a shouting mood.

"Danny how could you do that to Josh and Donna?"

"I'm impressed Sam, you managed to use your indoor voice."

"Danny I don't think you're in a position to be using that tone of voice. How could you tell on them?"

"By not telling on them."

"But the circle of people who knew is small: you knew; I knew; Mal knew; Josh knew; Donna knew; their parents knew; and that's it."

"I have a theory on that one."

"You going to share it with me?"

"Not till it's proof rather than a theory, you going to apologise for accusing me?"

"Did Josh apologise?"

"How did you know Josh called?"

"Because he's Josh, he's predictable. If he didn't have to apologise I don't."

"How do you know he didn't?"

"Because he's predictable, I'm betting Donna apologised for him."

"You guys need to socialise outside of each other more."

"I do! Mal's hardly West Wing staff."

"But she's related to West Wing staff."

"Oh like you can talk."

"C.J. and I aren't dating."

"Who says I was talking about C.J.?" Sam sounds far too smug for my taste.

"I'm hanging the phone up now Sam."

"Good luck with your lead Danny." he rings off and I am left to my own devices. In fact I think I'm going to go over to the water cooler so that nothing can interrupt me whilst I explain the thing about Josh and Donna. You see Josh and Donna have always been Josh and Donna and there's no denying it. You don't talk about The President and Debbie, you didn't talk about the President and Mrs Landingham, you never speak of Toby in connection to Ginger or Bonnie and the same goes for Sam, Carol works outside of CJ's office but you would never put an 'and' between their names, you always do with Josh and Donna. That's an all important 'and', it implies all sorts of togetherness and although that was just an implication for a time it's being proved more and more every day.

It's a reporter's job to watch things and one of the things I've watched over the years is the relationship between the Deputy Chief of Staff and his assistant. It started on the campaign trial and I was there for that, my late night chats weren't just with the President but also with Josh Lyman and the blonde assistant who followed him like a shadow and whom he sought to include in everything. It was nice to watch them together, cute even, and although his girlfriend sometimes came in to spoil the picture they had a tendency to look like a couple.

Of course that was back then, the time in office was different and their relationship changed a great deal but undoubtedly you know that. It wasn't at all obvious, however, that they were dating when they were; they were just Josh and Donna doing the same old dance that they'd perfected in the five years they'd known each other. Of course that's what everyone else thought, I for one am good at my job and I noticed that something had changed. Okay so maybe I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't stayed late with C.J for that late night picnic we had about four months ago, and okay, okay I didn't notice for the six months they were dating before that but at least I noticed. Or rather stumbled out on it.

C.J. and I had picnicked and she had refused my offer of a lift home, not at all disheartened I left the White House and was walking down to the road to get a cab (it is more than possible that C.J. knew I hadn't driven in that day) when I saw a blonde woman in a Burberryesque coat and a dark haired man with his arm around her. Donna is easy to spot at 100 paces, it's the hair and the skin I guess but I wouldn't have known the guy she was walking with had it not been for the fact he was wearing his little backpack. Only one man wears a backpack to the White House that I know of and his name is Josh Lyman. Suddenly there was a story and so I picked up my pace to hear their conversation. No I'm not going to defend what I did; I'm a reporter and I'm nosy by nature.

"Remind again why we're walking home?" Josh asked quietly

"Because my car is worth writing off and your car is at the mechanics because you didn't like the way the gears sounded." Donna reminded him.

"So basically it's your fault." he was teasing her, they always teased one another like this.

"Probably, but do take the time to explain it to me."

"Well you should have bought a new car by now and you were the one who insisted I get a stick rather than an automatic."

"As I recall you said you wanted a family car and you didn't like the automatics in that category."

"And who would I be getting a family car for?"

"Did you get Amy pregnant and leave her Josh?" Donna's humour is a high wire act to say the least.

"Firstly she left me, secondly that wasn't funny, thirdly don't think you can make it up to me but nuzzling your head into my neck like that...okay you can."

"Thought so." came the muffled response, "But I like the fact you bought us a family car, it's sweet Josh."

"Well I thought so, it's the first of several small steps I like to think of as part of us--"

"But no kids to go in it until after you get the next guy elected." Donna finished for him.

"We, till after we get the next guy elected."

"That's be nice for us." She sounded kind of drowsy and I really didn't want to interrupt them because they sounded so cute and all...but I still owe Josh for the goldfish thing.

"Josh! Donna!" I said brightly stepping forward to walk next to them, "How are you?"

"Oh Danny," Josh drew to a halt and sounded sort of flustered, "Didn't see me there, or hear you. You didn't hear us did you?"

"Course not, I heard nothing about family cars and children and election plans." Josh was looking panicked, as was Donna but I couldn't let them off the hook just yet, "So you guys, how long have you been keeping this a secret?"

"Keeping what a secret?" Ah Josh, Josh, Josh playing the fool never works with me.

"The fact that you and Donna have plans for a four by four with a safety seat in the back."

"It's a sedan, not a four by four." Donna interrupted mildly, "I thought facts were your forte."

"A sedan? Really? Josh is so much more a four by four kind of caveman."

"Danny." Josh growled, "Either say you're going to spill on us or go home and call C.J. and talk to her about your own plans for children."

"Joshua, I'm not going to make you into a story." I said with wide eyed innocence, "I promise you that I don't want to write this kind of thing into a story not least because C.J. would, quite possibly, never speak to me again. Don't worry about me. "

"You promise?" Josh asks suspiciously, "You promise on your honor?"

"I'm a reporter, I have none, how about I promise on Gail?" I could hear Donna trying not to laugh when I say this but she's not succeeding.

"Deal." Josh sounds suddenly very happy again.

"So you going to tell me about you guys?" I asked

"No, we're going to go home." Donna said with a smile, "See you later Danny."

"No fair, I want to hear." I said with a grin to their retreating backs.

I sort of figured that Josh would be pacing by now, after all Danny said he thought he knew who it was a good three minutes ago and still hasn't called back. I was expecting Josh to appear in the doorway of his office looking dishevelled at least two minutes and thirty seconds ago, I was anticipating the need for a walk and talk, heck I even put on my walk and talk shoes. You've got to understand Josh and I thought I did which is why I am so not leaning back in my chair to see if I can see into his office right now. Which I can't. Maybe there's something on my desk that he needs urgently, wait a second aha! No...no can't use that, I already used that excuse when he called Danny so that I could go in and confiscate the phone if Josh got all Josh like. There's got to be something...

"DONNA!" okay so maybe I don't need the something, and I was so right about Josh being in a pacey mood.

"You don't need to yell Josh." See, I can make my voice travel into his office without raising it.

"DONNA!"

"Okay, okay I'm coming." Forgive me Betty Friedan but sometime when Josh yells I have to answer.

He barely waits until I'm in his office before he asks, "Has he called you with a name yet?"

"No."

"Are you sure because I was on the phone to the State Department and I might have missed the little blinking light. Did he call through to you?"

"Just so we're clear you didn't recommend anything potentially destructive just to get off the phone quickly?" It had to be asked.

"Donnna," he whines.

"Josh, do I need to check that we're not at war right now?"

"Like I have the power to do that." he scoffs

"Can I just say that around ninety percent of the country is relieved."

"What about the ten percent?"

"Oh they want us to randomly throw nukes at people we don't like."

"Has he called?"

"No Josh he has not called."

"He said he'd call."

"And I'm sure he will call." I reassured him

"But when?"

"When he's found the lead Josh, don't worry too much about it."

"I can't help but worry, that person almost cost us our jobs."

"The important thing is that they didn't, and that Danny will call you as soon as he finds out who did that to us."

"Okay."

I'm about to ask if he needs anything else when the phone rings, sharp high pitched rings which make Josh start a little and make me hold my breath until Josh picks up the phone with a hand which is shaking ever so slightly.

"Danny, what have you got for me?"

The easy place to start would have been Amy, of all the people I would have assumed that Josh's jilted girlfriend would have been the culprit but Amy doesn't do things like that. Yes she is the dragon lady, yes she calls him J which infuriates me and I wasn't even around to hear that, but she has wit and charm and legs all the way down to the floor and women like that don't stoop to such things. My next thought was that it was some other assistant, someone who had been refused a promotion and had decided to take it out on the White House but there was no one who sprang to mind for that so instead I went back to the transcript for the Press Briefing, just to see what exactly it was that the question asked.

Josh Lyman has been screwing his assistant since the beginning .

And that's where I had it, because I'd heard someone using that particular turn of phrase just the day before, minus Josh's name but this particular person had been speaking to an intern and instead of doing what their job description told them to do and asking the questions, they were answering them. And from then on it was easy.

See the thing about Republicans is they never really do the dirty work themselves, the thing about Democrats is that they never pay attention to who is doing the dirty work. Except for me of course, but then I get paid to notice. It wasn't a jealous assistant, it wasn't Amy, it wasn't Cliff, it wasn't Jack, it wasn't someone out to score points against the White House. The person in question, the person who had started this all off should have known better but the point was that they did know better. No one is as capable of starting off an unnamed rumour like a member of the White House Press corps.

It wasn't too hard to find the person I was looking for, because they -- like me -- had been the only person who had not been part of the gaggle of people tying leads together. They, like me, had been writing.

"Good Morning." False sincerity, it's easy enough.

"Hey Danny."

"You know," I was never one to fill the time with small talk, "there's some gossip going round, says that you're being transferred out of the White House because you can't get the leads."

"I'm sorry Danny, if you were hoping I was about to leave and let you be king pin again you're mistaken."

"I only raised that," I continued with a merry smile, "Because that kind of news would make any reporter kind of desperate, it would almost make them spread a rumour around some White House staffers so that there could be a story...a story which they would have already written with the quotes from other White House staffers which no-one else would be able to get after the story broke." The man at the desk is looking at his computer screen, expressionless but he won't stay that way for long if I keep this up, "I only say that because your little rumour made it all the way back to the Press Corps today, in fact I think you were there for that. Only the rumour that made it all the way back to the Press Corps was wrong, you know it and I know it and everyone else knows it, but it doesn't matter because you can spin a story out of it when the rest of us can't. Because you have the quotes."

"It's not like it's true."

"And yet... it is plausible, which is why you said it." I smile happily, "Thanks for the confession there."

"I didn't confess."

"No but the quote from another unnamed White House Source did it for you." I say tapping at his screen before wandering off back to my phone.

I'm about to phone Josh immediately when I think how much more fun this would be to hold over his head, so instead I place my first call to CJ.

"How much do you love me right now?"

"Danny, what is this?"

"If I told you I found the perpetrator..."

"Have you?"

"It's John Wright, works for the Herald, how much do you love me right now?"

"Right now?" she pauses, "right now in this moment I do indeed love you."

"And one day you'll say that without me needing to prompt you." I grin into the phone, "See you in the briefing room in ten."

"You going to call Josh?"

"Of course." I hang up the phone with a smile on my face before dialling the next number, "Hey,"

"Danny, what have you got for me?"

"A very guilty member of the Press Corps."

"Danny, just this once I'm going to tell you that you did a good job."

"Thank you Josh, now I need to go back to work, I suggest you watch the briefing."

By the time I've trailed into my seat in the briefing room there is a whole crowd of people buzzing with the questions they want to ask CJ to complete their story. Just before she comes into the room I look over my shoulder and I can see Sam, Josh and Donna standing at the back of the room, waiting to hear what CJ has to say. They're not looking worried, not that Sam has any reason to be, they're just smiling and Josh and Donna are smiling in a particularly contented way.

CJ walks into the room and delivers some comments that I note down abstractedly, I get them down but I'm really not paying attention to that, I'm waiting for the question time. When it comes my hand is one of the first up.

"Danny, then Mark."

"CJ, just a follow up from this morning's briefing. Are Joshua Lyman and Donnatella Moss dating?"

CJ pauses, smiles slightly, "You know it's not White House policy to comment on the personal lives of those who work here but I've spoken to some people and we're decided to give you all a treat. Josh and Donna, our very favourite office romance, are not 'screwing' each other as it was alleged this morning, nor was Donna hired due to any romantic feelings that may have been felt; Donna was hired because without her we'd no doubt be at war with Mars. However, we're happy to say that they are in a mature, adult, committed relationship and the fact that Donna could get Josh to understand what any of those three words meant is almost as miraculous as the fact that you guys didn't even notice it for ten months. Mark?"

I am so going to get rewarded for that later.

**AN: so this chapter has been sitting in bits on my laptop for a while now but thanks to the review of a certain wljohns I finally put it all together again. Sorry about the lonnng wait. I do believe the next chapter is all about Leo. That one might take me a while again and I do apologise if it does...but I'll hopefully get it all up soon.**


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